S Styles

Academic lawyer interested in Scots Law, especially Contract Law, Scots Constitutional law and politics, Medical Ethics, Public Law, History and Heraldry.

[S Styles @DunsPitcus]

This important consultation on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Short Survey – Call for Views - ends on 16th August 2024. https://t.co/oRUaAhDtzA

[Lawrence Patihis, PhD @lawrencepatihis]

The Hollowing Out of Britain’s Universities

"In the wake of the reforms of 2010-12 came the senior managers who called what we published “outputs”, wore sharp suits and stern looks, circulated spreadsheets, and spoke only in PowerPoint bullet-points."
...
"The middle managers were not unlike the prison guards in Zimbardo’s ill-fated 1970s experiment, gradually intoxicated by the petty sovereignties and sanctioned cruelties suddenly available to them."

by Frederick Attenborough

https://t.co/TchWf6UASz

[Michael Merrifield @AstroMikeMerri]

It appears that the University of Nottingham’s senior management diaspora hasn’t yet got around to scrubbing the record.

(https://t.co/XOgzhCIfze)

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

And guess what? The world’s largest offshore wind farm (with wind turbines bigger than the Eiffel Tower) currently being planned on the east coast of Scotland is very close to the massive 600MW energy guzzling AI data centre proposed in Auchertool in Fife….just a coincidence obviously…

[21group @21percentgroup]

A Vice Chancellor speaks

"We cut our pension contributions in half, offer you a trivial payment ... & if you don’t accept, you’ll be left worse off"

Grim from VC Andy Long of Northumbria -- who was present at the torching of Nottingham University

https://t.co/ms9DdvjgH0

[Joanna Cherry KC @joannaccherry]

Keep going. Delighted to see your letters to Crown Office & Police Scotland were informed by independent legal advice from the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. We need more transparency of decision-making in Scotland. If it takes legal action or a Westminster inquiry so be it.

[alexmassie @alexmassie]

"Because" not "despite".

[Cat Brown 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🚜🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇪 @MrsBr0wn_82]

Great video from @JamesMelville

please, please share and help spread the word.

Ask yourself why all of a sudden do we need all these Data centres?

They're building digital prisons 😔

[Des Freedman @lazebnic]

Shame that he doesn't seem to appreciate that it's the staff who "keep the lights on" - at least the ones who have been trying to support students & deliver a high-quality education in the face of relentless attacks on jobs and academic programmes.

[21group @21percentgroup]

Universities of Sheffield, Nottingham & Edinburgh have all run into costly IT failures

Same pattern every time: consultants/audit companies push “professionalised” HR systems, universities buy in & results are poor

Money flows out far more easily than accountability flows back

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

More than 100 new datacentres in the UK plan to burn gas to generate electricity, some potentially doing so permanently.

▪️No net zero for the data centres.

▪️Net zero enforced on us plebs (probably to enable the data centres to burn more energy).

The whole thing is a scam.

[UK HE News @HigherEd_UK]

This pattern is happening at every UK university in some form. Corrupt and incompetent senior managers have spent over a decade borrowing and spending unis into oblivion.

Any journalists interested in the real reason for the UK HE collapse?

[alexmassie @alexmassie]

John Swinney is handling the Murrell affair very badly.
So badly, in fact, that we are left to conclude he opposes a new inquiry because he fears what it might find.
At some point, SNP people are going to start wondering if he is part of the problem…
https://t.co/zsxYAQG8Ul

[Joanna Cherry KC @joannaccherry]

I see John Swinney has finally admitted that the “ring fenced” fund for a 2nd indyref was spent on other things. Apart from the deceit perpetrated on the donors this does rather beg the question of how the SNP would fund a second indyref campaign if they got a section 30 order.

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

The map of uk data centres. 529 of them and hundreds more at planning and consultation stage. These data centres consume huge amounts of water and energy. Net zero for us. But not for them.

https://t.co/uhzGXrHe3G

[Wings Over Scotland @WingsScotland]

Today we learn that Murrell no-commented his interviews with the police just like Sturgeon did. So why did it work for her but not him?

[David Hamilton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦 @DvdHmltn]

.@scotgov found to be in contempt of court over their FOI delay. 👇🏻

[Kevin McKenna @kmckenna63]

https://t.co/BczluVIjGq

[S Styles @DunsPitcus]

It’s insane that at same time Miliband is destroying oil & gas industry the Govt wants to promote the energy guzzling data centres needed for AI! 🙄😱😱

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

This 600MW AI data centre is proposed on scenic farmland by the village of Auchtertool, between Kircaldy and Cowdenbeath in Fife.

The size of the data centre enormous and as you can see from the maps, it dwarfs the neighbouring village of Auchertool.

It has been calculated that this data centre will use the same amount of energy in a year than half of Scotland’s households, or 20% of Scotland’s total energy use. So the energy use of Achtertool data centre when built will use in a year the same energy as 1.34 million households – or 53% of Scottish households.

There will now be a period of three to four weeks consultation period when the public can comment or object to the planning application. Here’s the online link to leave a comment:

https://t.co/E1r9FxVNRj

[James Mitchell @ProfJMitchell]

This is a sensible proposal.

[Joanna Cherry KC @joannaccherry]

There’s always a tweet. I look forward to the day when Mr Colquhoun and other SNP HQ staff will be called upon to give evidence about this and other matters.